"Our clear stated objective is to become the number one in the printing industry in the world," said Océ senior vice-president Jan Hol (pictured) at this week's Ipex Media Summit in London.

He explained that the merger was currently in the public tender offer stage, expected to expire on 1 March unless extended.

"We still have a situation where shareholders have three weeks to go to make up their minds in regards to tendering their shares," said Hol.

If all goes according to plan, the merger should complete around two weeks after the closure of the tender offer, as is traditional under Dutch law, he explained.

Océ also used the Media Summit to officially launch the newest model in its best-selling Arizona family of large-format printers, the 550 GT.

The UV flatbed machine "sets a new standard for registration in terms of quality and accuracy", said Océ UK managing director Bron Curley.

He also claimed that this "fastest-ever" Arizona had the lowest ink consumption in the market.

The display graphics printer is capable of POP-quality prints at 40sqm per hour and up to 1.25×2.5m.

Its predecessor, the Arizona 250 GT, was launched in 2007 and became the best-selling flatbed printer of all time, said Curley.

Other recent releases on show at Océ's Ipex stand will include the Océ JetStream 1000, the VarioPrint 6320 Ultra, and the Océ ColorWave 600, which uses the manufacturer's Crystal Point inkjet-toner hybrid technology.

Steven Kiernan is in London for the Ipex Media Summit.

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